August Industrial Output Up 9.1%.

Industrial output continued its strong growth in August at 9.1% yoy thanks to strong growth in metallurgy (+19.7% yoy) and a recovery of chemicals output (+6.6% yoy). August’s number was down slightly from July, when industrial output grew 11.4% yoy, due mainly to slower growth in food processing (+5.3% yoy in August, after a 9.4% yoy gain in July) and machine building (+6.8% yoy in August after a 17.8% yoy gain in July). Industrial output growth in 8M06 came to 5.4% yoy. Alexander Viktorov: Favorable world markets supported the steel and chemicals industries in August, while this year’s weaker harvest and the change of governments and shake-up in the rail car industry explain the slow-downs in the food and machine building sector. We forecast industrial output to end the year up 6.0% yoy.